Can anyone who owns one of these caravans tell me what they are like to live with please? My partner and I have seen one that we are really interested in and it looks very nice and spacious inside but there is only so much you tell from a look around inside. We would be looking at staying in it for 2-3 weeks at a time so space and comfort are important. How convenient and durable are the fixtures and fittings? Are the furniture and bed comfortable enough for 2-3 weeks of use at a time? It will only be the 2 of us and our 2 small dogs using it. Can anyone suggest any similar caravans? The only stipulation is that it must have a fixed double bed and twin axles.
Many thanks, Martin.
ok the freelander is out as its not got the weight allowance for towing it, we have the caravan and we are a couple the same as you with 2 dogs.
erm only way i can describe it is its bloody brilliant for living in! loads of room in all respects, you will never fill all the storage!
the only one fault we have with ours is the bedroom door! do rely on the catch to hold it still while towing, we put our awning across to stop it from moving around.
ours is the 2006 model, without the freezer so the fire is placed there, i didnt want the freezer as that meant the fire was way to close to the pull out bed and likely to be a problem with bedding getting too hot during the night, besides the ice box in the fridge is big enough for 2 people for about 3 days at a time and if like us you will be out and about anyway so pick shopping up then.
make sure your reversing skills are good, your not going to be able to man handle this caravan with just the 2 of you. the one main issue if your still at the "just looking" stage is that like all elldis's the front windows can and do leak, so you want to get it damp checked, dont rely on the seller being honest, get it checked yourself.
and lastly once you have had this caravan there is nothing else on the market that even comes close hence why we have had ours now for the last 15 years and its still looking as good now as it did the day we bought it
Quote: Originally posted by marg6 on 21/6/2022
ok the freelander is out as its not got the weight allowance for towing it, we have the caravan and we are a couple the same as you with 2 dogs.
erm only way i can describe it is its bloody brilliant for living in! loads of room in all respects, you will never fill all the storage!
the only one fault we have with ours is the bedroom door! do rely on the catch to hold it still while towing, we put our awning across to stop it from moving around.
ours is the 2006 model, without the freezer so the fire is placed there, i didnt want the freezer as that meant the fire was way to close to the pull out bed and likely to be a problem with bedding getting too hot during the night, besides the ice box in the fridge is big enough for 2 people for about 3 days at a time and if like us you will be out and about anyway so pick shopping up then.
make sure your reversing skills are good, your not going to be able to man handle this caravan with just the 2 of you. the one main issue if your still at the "just looking" stage is that like all elldis's the front windows can and do leak, so you want to get it damp checked, dont rely on the seller being honest, get it checked yourself.
and lastly once you have had this caravan there is nothing else on the market that even comes close hence why we have had ours now for the last 15 years and its still looking as good now as it did the day we bought it
Thank you, that was generally very helpful and it definitely would seem to be a good choice.
I very much disagree about the Freelander being unable to tow the van though, it pulls our 2000kg horsebox very easily, comfortably and legally which is considerably heavier than the max gross weight of the caravan and with a much higher CoG and far less inherent stability. I tow at least 10,000 miles per year for work and leisure so I am very used to driving and reversing large trailers.
I don't know if we will fit an awning as at many of the places we will be staying they are not really appropriate as they are not formal campsites, but more likely to be country show type events and trade and agricultural shows. It is good to know that it is a durable van and thank you for the warning about the front windows I will make sure to check those.
The van we are looking at does not have an electric fire but blown air heating, would this be sufficient to keep the van warm in early spring and late autumn? How much gas would you typically use over a 2 week period?
I am glad that there is plenty of storage as we will mostly be staying on-site for our stay so being able to stock up for the entire stay is very important.
Durabilty is important as it will be used at trade and agricultural shows that we help set up and exhibit at rather than staying on purpose built campsites with smooth pitches and roads/tracks.
Quote: Originally posted by martin734 on 21/6/2022
Quote:
Thank you, that was generally very helpful and it definitely would seem to be a good choice.
I very much disagree about the Freelander being unable to tow the van though, it pulls our 2000kg horsebox very easily, comfortably and legally which is considerably heavier than the max gross weight of the caravan and with a much higher CoG and far less inherent stability. I tow at least 10,000 miles per year for work and leisure so I am very used to driving and reversing large trailers.
I don't know if we will fit an awning as at many of the places we will be staying they are not really appropriate as they are not formal campsites, but more likely to be country show type events and trade and agricultural shows. It is good to know that it is a durable van and thank you for the warning about the front windows I will make sure to check those.
The van we are looking at does not have an electric fire but blown air heating, would this be sufficient to keep the van warm in early spring and late autumn? How much gas would you typically use over a 2 week period?
I am glad that there is plenty of storage as we will mostly be staying on-site for our stay so being able to stock up for the entire stay is very important.
Durabilty is important as it will be used at trade and agricultural shows that we help set up and exhibit at rather than staying on purpose built campsites with smooth pitches and roads/tracks.
ok for the type of caravanning your going to be doing your main issue is power or the lack of it!
why hasnt your van got electric heating from the fire? they all do have it not just gas and blown
your feelander/defender might be rated to tow 2000kgs but add the car weight and the caravan max loaded weight together and it takes you well over your licence requirements unless your like us and have had our driving licences well before 1997
ok for the type of caravanning your going to be doing your main issue is power or the lack of it!
why hasnt your van got electric heating from the fire? they all do have it not just gas and blown
your feelander/defender might be rated to tow 2000kgs but add the car weight and the caravan max loaded weight together and it takes you well over your licence requirements unless your like us and have had our driving licences well before 1997
Post last edited on 21/06/2022 13:31:01
I think that rule has been scrapped now, or is in the process of being scrapped
Quote: Originally posted by martin734 on 21/6/2022
Quote:
Thank you, that was generally very helpful and it definitely would seem to be a good choice.
I very much disagree about the Freelander being unable to tow the van though, it pulls our 2000kg horsebox very easily, comfortably and legally which is considerably heavier than the max gross weight of the caravan and with a much higher CoG and far less inherent stability. I tow at least 10,000 miles per year for work and leisure so I am very used to driving and reversing large trailers.
I don't know if we will fit an awning as at many of the places we will be staying they are not really appropriate as they are not formal campsites, but more likely to be country show type events and trade and agricultural shows. It is good to know that it is a durable van and thank you for the warning about the front windows I will make sure to check those.
The van we are looking at does not have an electric fire but blown air heating, would this be sufficient to keep the van warm in early spring and late autumn? How much gas would you typically use over a 2 week period?
I am glad that there is plenty of storage as we will mostly be staying on-site for our stay so being able to stock up for the entire stay is very important.
Durabilty is important as it will be used at trade and agricultural shows that we help set up and exhibit at rather than staying on purpose built campsites with smooth pitches and roads/tracks.
ok for the type of caravanning your going to be doing your main issue is power or the lack of it!
why hasnt your van got electric heating from the fire? they all do have it not just gas and blown
your feelander/defender might be rated to tow 2000kgs but add the car weight and the caravan max loaded weight together and it takes you well over your licence requirements unless your like us and have had our driving licences well before 1997
Post last edited on 21/06/2022 13:31:01
I don't know why the caravan hasn't got a fire, I didn't know it was supposed to have one, would there be a good reason for removing it? I will ask the seller about that. Thankfully power isn't usually an issue as most of these places provide 240v power via large generators or allow personal petrol generators that produce a maximum of 65db at 7 meters.
You may want to take a look at the updated towing laws, they changed last year. I got my licence after 1997 but I still have BE category as well as C1E due to taking further training. Since 16/12/2021 Everyone with B category on their licence has automatically been given BE licence category. Depending on when you obtained your BE category there some minor limits on what you can tow.
If you obtained BE category before January 2013, you can tow any trailer up to the maximum towing capacity of your vehicle. If you obtained BE after January 2013 you can tow any trailer up to a maximum of 3500 kg or up t the maximum towing capacity of your vehicle. This means that I can tow 4000 kg with my Defender and 2000 kg with the Freelander as I obtained BE category before 2013 and these are the maximum towing weights of the vehicles. My partner who only got BE category when the law changed last year, can now tow up to 3500 kg with the Defender and 2000 kg with the Freelander.
Quote: Originally posted by martin734 on 21/6/2022
Mainly by a Land Rover Defender 130 with a 4.6 V8. Occasionally it may be towed by a Freelander 2.2 TD4.
Although the Freelander is legally capable of towing it, the kerbweight may be on the border line from a safety point of view. Do you tow a horse box at 60mph?
Although you may be experienced at towing, the caravan is probably a lot bigger and longer than your horsebox and the last thing you need is for the caravan to take control as it is heavier than the Freelander, however it is your choice whether you want to endanger yourselves. Unfortunately you do not mentioned age of the caravan, but if it is 2010 or newer check for cracks on front and rear panels especially where they join the roof panel. This advice applies to most brands of caravan.
IIRC Martin tows for a living as do I. I hate to break it to you, but the 80% ADVISORY etc is designed to protect non regular towers from themselves. I tow 3.5t commercially most days on 24 ft curtain trailers, with no accidents / claims in 31 years. Luck?……
Quote: Originally posted by martin734 on 21/6/2022
Mainly by a Land Rover Defender 130 with a 4.6 V8. Occasionally it may be towed by a Freelander 2.2 TD4.
Although the Freelander is legally capable of towing it, the kerbweight may be on the border line from a safety point of view. Do you tow a horse box at 60mph?
Although you may be experienced at towing, the caravan is probably a lot bigger and longer than your horsebox and the last thing you need is for the caravan to take control as it is heavier than the Freelander, however it is your choice whether you want to endanger yourselves. Unfortunately you do not mentioned age of the caravan, but if it is 2010 or newer check for cracks on front and rear panels especially where they join the roof panel. This advice applies to most brands of caravan.
Yes, a caravan is longer than my horsebox, which, as anyone who tows regularly knows, makes a caravan more stable. The greater the distance between the front axle of the trailer and the rear axle of the towing vehicle, the more the yaw forces on the towing vehicle are reduced, the CoG of a caravan is much lower than the horsebox as well. I tend to stick to around 50 mph when towing a horsebox as this makes for a more comfortable ride for the horses but I happily tow my 2000 kg plant, flatbed and tipper trailers at 60 mph without any problems. I found your tone to be extremely condescending, especially as I spend more miles towing per year than most people drive at all and I would never tow an outfit that I thought was in any way unsafe.
Well said Martin, just ignore the know-it-alls in this thread.
I've had 3 or 4 Elddis Crusaders over the years and they all had blown air heaters in them, but I didn't caravan out of the main season then.
I've now been caravanning for several years from January to November, and my last caravan from the present one, a large twin-axle, had blown air and I found it didn't heat the van sufficiently in the colder months of the year.
Since late 2011, I've had a Conqueror with Alde heating and wouldn't now have anything else. Smaller caravans than twin-axles, blown air heating is fine, but for all year round I'd recommend Alde.
Just my opinion, some will no doubt disagree, but that is my experience.
Just to stick my oar in.. anyone who regularly tows a loaded horse trailer AND keeps the horse/s happy to go back in will be more than capable of towing anything else.
A horse will make it very plain to the world when the driver has poor control - it will start refusing to get back in.
A horse (even a small one) can weigh close to a ton; many trailers are 2 horse trailers, but very possibly the horses are totally different sizes and weights, so you have a load that is both uneven and fidgeting about.
And yes - horse trailers can and do get towed at 60mph on a motorway (although as above, 50 is more usual).
Steady speed does not upset the horse - what upsets them is sudden braking or acceleration, jerky or sharp lane changing or bad cornering - unexpected movements, in other words.
Tow a horse (or any livestock) and you know all about anticipation and planning to keep things smooth and under control.
I have had three new Super Siroccos T/A over a period of about 10 years and enjoyed them all.
However in 2018 i went to the NEC to order a new one for 2019 delivery, but was disappointed as i felt the quality of the fixtures and fittings, cabinetry etc was not as nice as the earlier models I had. They all towed beautifully and I used them all over the UK and to the continent . So I ordered and changed to a Swift Elegance 645. Its the first Swift I have owned and in my opinion is so much nicer and tows every bit as well as the Super Siroccos I had.
You would not be disappointed with any of the Elddis T/A range, only in to say they like most caravans these days, i did have issues in the first few months with hinges, fixtures and fittings etc, working loose or needed repairing.
One other thing, if it has not already been done, ensure the dealer balances the wheels before you take delivery, I have been towing T/A for over 30 years all over UK and continent and can assure you its worth doing., it also helps keep vibration down in the caravan if the wheels are out of balance , which reduces the chance of screws working loose on cabinetry.
I have a 2008 Elddis crusader superstorm and it’s ace. A few problems with hinges over the years but otherwise very well built and solid. Internal water tank an added bonus. Looked at some 2017 vans earlier in the year, no way are they built so well now.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Elddis Super Sirocco
via mobile 21/6/2022 at 10:20am
